image: The 2024 Fiddler Innovation Fellowship Awardees.
Credit: NCSA
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications awarded Fiddler Innovation Fellowships to 17 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and NCSA graduate students in a ceremony January 28 honoring the outstanding achievements and interdisciplinary contributions to NCSA programs Students Pushing Innovation (SPIN) and Design for America during the 2023-24 academic year.
The awards are part of a $2 million endowment from Jerry Fiddler and Melissa Alden to Illinois in support of student and faculty interdisciplinary research initiatives through the Illinois Emerging Digital Research and Education in Arts Media (eDream) Institute at NCSA.
The 17 awardees represent students whose outstanding interdisciplinary contributions to their projects showcased a wide range of research interests and domains, including better understanding reading development using behavioral and computational approaches, investigating student sustainability habits on campus and contributing to the development of quantum-resistant security measures.
The creativity and ingenuity these students have shown in their work with NCSA exemplifies the mission Jerry Fiddler and Melissa Alden set forth with their generous support. Each of these individuals is most deserving of this honor and we look forward to what the future holds for these young innovators.
Bill Gropp, NCSA Director
Fellowship awardee Ray Xu was a SPIN intern in 2023-24 and worked on a project titled, “Understanding reading development: behavioral and computational approaches.” Xu is now a co-founder of a startup called Omnial AI, which is building an artificial intelligence productivity engine designed to empower individuals to work at the speed of thought. Its mission is to make AI not only accessible but also intuitive and transformative, enabling everyone – regardless of technical expertise – to unlock their full potential with zero learning curve.
“As a research intern at SPIN under Dr. Anastasia Stoops, I gained invaluable experience in training natural language processing models, which deepened my understanding of language and AI,” Xu said. “More importantly, SPIN instilled in me the mindset to innovate boldly and apply cutting-edge research to solve real-world problems. These lessons now fuel Omnial AI’s vision of delivering transformative AI solutions that truly serve and empower everyone.”
Doctoral student and Assistant Director of Infrastructure for IMMERSE Jake Metz was also awarded a fellowship for his outstanding portfolio of creative and collaborative works. Metz founded the Immersion Festival, a local event that celebrates multidisciplinary and experimental audio and visual arts made by artists from all over the country, and also contributes to productions at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, exemplifying his ability to bridge technological innovation and practical artistic applications.
“This fellowship acknowledges the critical role that creative computing plays in shaping the future of research, education and cultural engagement,” Metz said. “My work focuses on making emerging technologies accessible and fostering collaboration between artists, humanists, technologists and scholars. By supporting this effort, the fellowship affirms that the intersection of computing and the arts is not just an experiment, but a vital space for new ideas, human-centered innovation and the next generation of creative expression and communication.”
2024 Fiddler Innovation Fellowship Awardees
- Ray Xu, SPIN
- Arnav Shah, SPIN
- Zaeem Qureshi, SPIN
- Rui Zhou, SPIN
- Zhiju Lu, SPIN
- Jakub Sowa, SPIN
- Kendall Murphy, Design for America
- Rhea Khadye, Design for America
- Madison Van, Design for America
- Alisha Daga, Design for America
- Kymira Parker, Design for America
- Bharathi Chonachalam, Design for America
- Sophie Meade, Design for America
- Priyam Mazumdar, Graduate Research Leader for REU FoDoMMaT
- Jake Metz, IMMERSE
- Colter Wehmeier, eDream
- Nellie Haug, $10,000 TEC Fiddler Innovation Fellow, co-founder of Cervicare
ABOUT NCSA
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing, expertise and advanced digital resources for the nation’s science enterprise. At NCSA, University of Illinois faculty, staff, students and collaborators from around the globe use innovative resources to address research challenges for the benefit of science and society. NCSA has been assisting many of the world’s industry giants for over 35 years by bringing industry, researchers and students together to solve grand challenges at rapid speed and scale.